Ratchet rebuild

[Richard Cranium]

Not meaning to start any thing, so please don't...
Last night I took my U.S.A. made craftsman ratchet in to be rebuilt, It was rebuilt and works fine, but no where on the kit did it say it was made in U.S.A.
So what good does it do to have a U.S.A. made ratchet if the guts are imported? I have only seen 1 ratchet with a broken frame, all the rest have been internal gears. Richie

 

[Steinmetz]

Here's the rule: If it does not explicitly say "Made in USA", you can safely assume it's made overseas, probably in China. Further, if an item is laser-marked, you can safely assume that the manufacturer is providing the same item to numerous suppliers, each having their own mark applied to them.

 

[3baygarage]

Scary. Just last week I went in to Sears with a broken 1/4" ratchet. The clerk went in back to get me a rebuild kit to take home. He first tried giving me the new import but I said I don't want a new one. His response was "I know it's not USA made, some people are sentimental."
WTF???? Not sentimental I thought, just happy with Good old USA here.
Anyway, he came out with a rebuild kit and said "Look, this is made in USA."
I do know the kits always had a little card inside that said USA and this one does still.

 

[ajchien]

I thought someone posted about a year ago that there were Craftsman USA and Craftsman China rebuild kits for each COO, and they were not interchangeable. Now where was that post .....

 

[markduncan93]

I've looked at the overseas 3/8" ratchet that came with the 42pc bit set (http://www.sears.com/craftsman-42-p...p-00934845000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1) and the only differences between the internals is the pawl and selector. The drive gear interchanged with my 3/8" USA raised panel ratchet. I actually swapped in a worn US gear in the new overseas and put the new gear in my rebuild parts drawer. If this is the same with the other overseas raised panels, I'm not sure.

Edit:
Took a few pictures of the ratchets; US on the left, overseas on the right. The second picture shows the differences between the pawl and selectors. I didn't take a picture of it but the hole in which the selector is inserted is smaller on the overseas ratchet than the US. As seen in the fourth and fifth pictures, the drive gears are fairly similar other than machining. The sixth is with the overseas gear in the US ratchet and the US gear in the overseas. The final is the US assembled with like components and the overseas with overseas parts except for the worn US drive gear. Don't really care for the hole in the anvil look.

Hope this makes some sense.